Met offers financial incentives and pension abatement to retain and recruit a record number of officers

The Met is taking bold steps to recruit a new record number of police officers in the next ten months.

A financial incentive of £5,000 will be offered to retain experienced officers and attract even more uniformed police constables to work in the capital.

Over the past three years, 9,400 people have chosen to become Met police officers, helping us to reach 33,567 officers in March – the highest number on record.

Now, through the National Police Uplift Programme, we are focusing on recruiting 4,000 new officers by March 2023.

As the recovery from Covid continues, we have seen the job market in London rebound and change quickly, with more job opportunities, fewer people looking for work and more of our officers choosing to retire.

To help achieve our ambition for record growth during this time-limited period, we are offering a one-off cash bonus of £5,000 in addition to our existing package of benefits to encourage more people to become a police constable.

In order to be more attractive to our experienced and skilled officers who have passed their usual point of retirement we are removing pension abatement, allowing them to receive their full pension and their monthly salary as they would if they had retired and started work in another organisation.

Director of Resources, Clare Davies, said: “Our growth is helping us achieve positive results in driving down violent crime and bolstering our presence in town centres and in neighbourhoods across London.

“The additional measures we have introduced are all targeted at making the Met competitive in the London job market at a time when all police forces and a number of other sectors are recruiting.

“We will be doing everything we can whilst we have the funding to encourage the best of the best to join us. We will also continue to press hard for a fair pay award for all our officers so that we remain an attractive employer.”

Source: (Met Police)